Cryptanalysis of public-key cryptosystems that use subcodes of algebraic geometry codes

We give a polynomial time attack on the McEliece public key cryptosystem based on subcodes of algebraic geometry (AG) codes. The proposed attack reposes on the distinguishability of such codes from random codes using the Schur product. Wieschebrink treated the genus zero case a few years ago but his approach cannot be extent straightforwardly to other genera. We address this problem by introducing and using a new notion, which we call the t-closure of a code

An upper bound of Singleton type for componentwise products of linear codes

We give an upper bound that relates the minimum weight of a nonzero componentwise product of codewords from some given number of linear codes, with the dimensions of these codes. Its shape is a direct generalization of the classical Singleton bound.Comment: 9 pages; major improvements in v3: now works for an arbitrary number of codes, and the low-weight codeword can be taken in product form; submitted to IEEE Trans. Inform. Theor

Matemàtiques que milloren la comunicació

El soroll indesitjat en la comunicació digital distorsiona el missatge a transmetre, per la qual cosa els investigadors estudien com dissenyar bons codis de canal, una eina matemàtica que permet detectar i corregir els errors que es produeixen en la transmissió d'informació. Investigadors de la UAB han aconseguit definir nous codis de canal que permeten d'obtenir millors paràmetres de qualitat.El ruido indeseado en la comunicación digital distorsiona el mensaje que se transmite, por lo que los investigadores estudian cómo diseñar buenos códigos de canal, una herramienta matemática que permite detectar y corregir los errores que se producen en la transmisión de información. Investigadores de la UAB han conseguido definir nuevos códigos de canal que permiten obtener mejores parámetros de calidad

Fast Erasure-and-Error Decoding and Systematic Encoding of a Class of Affine Variety Codes

In this paper, a lemma in algebraic coding theory is established, which is frequently appeared in the encoding and decoding for algebraic codes such as Reed-Solomon codes and algebraic geometry codes. This lemma states that two vector spaces, one corresponds to information symbols and the other is indexed by the support of Grobner basis, are canonically isomorphic, and moreover, the isomorphism is given by the extension through linear feedback shift registers from Grobner basis and discrete Fourier transforms. Next, the lemma is applied to fast unified system of encoding and decoding erasures and errors in a certain class of affine variety codes.Comment: 6 pages, 2 columns, presented at The 34th Symposium on Information Theory and Its Applications (SITA2011

A Distinguisher-Based Attack of a Homomorphic Encryption Scheme Relying on Reed-Solomon Codes

Bogdanov and Lee suggested a homomorphic public-key encryption scheme based on error correcting codes. The underlying public code is a modified Reed-Solomon code obtained from inserting a zero submatrix in the Vandermonde generating matrix defining it. The columns that define this submatrix are kept secret and form a set $L$. We give here a distinguisher that detects if one or several columns belong to $L$ or not. This distinguisher is obtained by considering the code generated by component-wise products of codewords of the public code (the so called "square code"). This operation is applied to punctured versions of this square code obtained by picking a subset $I$ of the whole set of columns. It turns out that the dimension of the punctured square code is directly related to the cardinality of the intersection of $I$ with $L$. This allows an attack which recovers the full set $L$ and which can then decrypt any ciphertext.Comment: 11 page